Drishyam 2 has had a dream begin on the field workplace. The movie has earned ₹65 crore nett throughout India in its first three days, surpassing the opening weekend collections of all Bollywood movies this yr besides Brahmastra. The movie’s director Abhishek Pathak, who’s making his function debut with the movie, talks in regards to the journey and the movie’s cultural impression within the Hindi-speaking viewers. Also learn: Drishyam 2 field workplace success sees return of early morning, midnight exhibits as theatres add screens
Drishyam is the remake of the Malayalam movie of the identical identify. The first Hindi model got here out in 2015, two years after the Malayalam unique’s success. However, Abhishek says the sequel was deliberate even earlier than the Malayalam Drishyam 2 launched. He says, “The Malayalam film was made but before it came out on OTT, we had bought the rights to it. We saw the film and loved it. By November 2020, we got the rights and then we started developing it.”
The Hindi model of Drishyam 2 has made some modifications to the script, introducing parts and characters that didn’t exist within the Malayalam model. Elaborating on that alternative, Abhishek says, “There is no point in making a frame to frame remake. You are not doing anything as a director if you do that. You have to bring your vision to the table. Also, if it’s a copy, people will talk about that aspect. It will spread via word of mouth and reduce your audience. Why would you want to take that chance?”
But the filmmaker agrees that any such change must be fastidiously deliberate in order to keep away from ruining the essence of the unique. “When you start rewriting something, you always mark out things you don’t want to touch,” he says, including, “The idea is to not damage it. See, we got the rights to something we loved and there’s no point changing that. We have to stick to the soul of the film, including the twist and turns. But the screenplay can change. Malayalam films are a little different as compared to Hindi films. The audiences are different as well. So we need that change. So yes, changing the screenplay of a remake is important but you have to be careful.”
Drishyam 2’s success comes at a time when there was a widespread notion within the cinema business that remakes will not be working. Abhishek says he each agrees and disagrees with that notion. He shares, “I agree and disagree both. Remakes are not working, I don’t agree with that. But yes, if the original is available on OTT in your language, you cut down on your audience. That has certainly damaged certain films that have come recently. But remaking is not something that will go away, I think. There are certain stories made for certain audiences. And if there is a chance to retell that brilliant story to another, larger audience, I don’t think there should be a problem with that. We are buying the rights officially from the producers. It’s not ‘copy kar liya’ as some people say.”
But Drishyam 2 is greater than only a remake. It can be the sequel to a vastly profitable movie that’s thought-about a cult basic by many. In reality, many imagine that the recognition of the Ajay Devgn-starrer Hindi model has even surpassed the Malayalam unique, which has Mohanlal within the lead. Abhishek says, “Without us doing anything, every year on October 2, there are memes about Vijay Salgaonkar and his family. It’s fun. Mohanlal sir is a great actor, a very established actor but the Hindi audiences relate Drishyam somewhere more with Vijay Salgaonkar and Ajay Devgn. And even though the Malayalam sequel was out, many people didn’t watch it as they wanted to see the Hindi version first. That is because they relate so much with Ajay sir. The Malayalam Drishyam is a brilliant film but they somewhere chose to hold on till the Hindi version was released.”
